Brick-machine



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1. R. KNICKER-BOUKER. BRICK MACHINE PatentedMay 13,1890.

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R. KNIGKERBOOKER.

BRIGK MACHINE.-

N0. 427,578.- Patented Ma 13, 1890.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

R. KNICKERBOUKER. BRIOK MACHINE.

No. 427,578. Patented May 13, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT KNICKERBOCKER, OF BLUE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES F.WVARDELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BRICK-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 27,578, dated May 13,1890.

Application filed May '7, 1889. Serial No. 309,922. (No model.) i

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT KNIOKER- ROCKER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residin g at Blue Island, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBrick-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of brickmachines in which is provideda rotary platen having mold-boxes therein, and having reciprocating diesadapted to depress the clay within the box to form the brick, and by acontinuous movement of the dies to eject the same from the mold after itis pressed.

My invention relates to certain improvements in this class ofbrick-machines, which may be summarized as follows: first, thecombination, with a rotating platen having moldboxes therein, of loweror bed dies having bearings upon an inclined or cam track, whereby isimparted to them a vertical reciprocating movement of a series of upperdies secured to rotate with an upper frame and adapted to be verticallymoved by an inclined or cam track upon the under side of a stationaryframe, in order to gradually press or form the brick between their lowerfaces and the upper faces of the bcdfclies, and whereby ample time isgiven for the release of the air in the clay, and the operation is madecontinuous; second, the combination, with the upper dies, of a secondcam-track upon which said dies also have a bearing, and which is adaptedat one point of their circuit to elevate them in order to clear thefeedspout which delivers the clay to the mold boxes; third, theprovision of an adjustable section in the cam-track of the lower or beddies, whereby the quantity of clay fed to the moldboxes may be varied;fourth, an improved feed,which is of such construction as to permitample time for the filling of the mold as it passes beneath thefeed-spout, and having means for relieving itself in case of anobstruction-such as a stone in the clay--whereby danger ot breaking themachine is obviated fifth, in an improved form of knocleoff device forremoving the brick from the platen without injuring them.

My invention also consists in certain novel devices and combinations ofdevices for effecting these desirable ends, as hereinafter described,and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a View in side elevation of myimproved brick- 5 5 machines, some of the parts being broken away,others showing in dotted lines, and a portion of the gearing omit-ted.Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional elevation of the machine, takenthrough the feed-box and two of the molds. Fig. 3 is a plan view belowthe line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail, in side elevation,taken from that side of the machine having the feed-box and the adjustable track-section before mentioned. Fig. 6 5 5 is a side elevationof one of the knockoff arms with its adjustable blocks; and Fig. 6

is an inverted plan view of one of the knockoff arms, taken above theline 6 G of Fig. 5.

In the drawings, A represents a stationary base having thereon thecain-track A, a is an upward extension of said base, whiohforms thearbor for the rotating parts.

B is the platen or moldtable, which may be circular in outline and castwith a hub b and provided near its periphery with moldboXes C. The edgeof this platcnmay be provided with gear-teeth, with which adriving-pinion mounted upon a suitable powershaft (not shown) enmeshes,whereby to impart a rotary motion to the platen.

D are the lower dies which preferably have in the lower ends of theirshanks D the anti-friction travelers d, which latter bear upon thecam-track A of the stationary base. 8 5 The upper ends of these diesenter the moldboxes and have amovement therein equal to the depth ofsaid mold-boxes, and the camtrack A is of such configuration that theupper end of the dies will be at the lowest point of their movement atthe time the mold-box is brought beneath the feed-spout. The latter,which is marked E, is of peculiar construction. It may be a continuationof a suit able feed-hopper, (not shown,) and has an 5 open lower end,which registers with the various 1nold-boxes as they are successivelypresented beneath it in the revolution of the platen. This feed-spout Iprefer to make of a width at least twice the width of the moldzoo box,as clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, so that ample time is givenfor the clay to fill the box while the latter is passing under the lowerend of the feed-spout.

It frequently happens that hard substaneessueh as imperfectly-groundclay, stone, and other foreign substancesare delivered to the mold-boxesthrough the feedspout, and if the latter be made solid some part of themachinery or the foreign substance must be crushed or broken. To avoidthis I provide a hinged valve E in one side of the feed-box, which isheld normally closed by means of the spring 6. If an obstruction ispresented to the mold in the operation, this hinged valve will openunder the unusual strain, thereby relieving the pressure andobviatingany danger of breaking the machinery.

F is a movable section in the cam-track A, said section being supportedupon adj ustingscrews f, which are provided with a suitable gearing,such as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, whereby said screws may be turned toraise or lower the track-section, and thereby limit the downwardmovement of the dies D to vary the depth of the mold-box, and, inconsequence, the quantity of clay. This adjustable track-section islocated beneath the feedboX, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

1 G is a circular guide-plate, which may be constructed integrallywithout being separately cast and bolted to the platen B. It hastransverse guide-channels g, which register or coincide in positionwit-h the mold-box of the platen.

The upper dies (marked II) have a sliding bearing within theguide-grooves g, and the upper end of theirshanks 11 preferably carryanti-friction travelers 71,, which latter bear through the major portionof their circuit upon a cam-track I, preferably formed upon the lowerside of a stationary plate I. This cam-track I is of such configurationthat the upper dies are forced downward by it, so as to slightly enterthe mold-box at the initial compression-point and so that the said upperdies rise gradually, being followed in their upward movement by thelower dies during the movement of the platen through a portion of itsrevolution.

In order to elevate the upper dies to cause them to clear thefeed-spout, I have extended the journals of the anti-friction bearingsof the upper dies, and secured on the outer ends of said journalstravelers J, which are adapted to bear upon a circular cam-track K,which may be formed by a separate .pieee, bolted or otherwise secured tothe under side of the top plate I or made integrally therewith. The pathof this inclined track is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and isshown clearly in Fig. 4. At the point on said track at which which Fig.4 is taken it has a sharp incline (marked it) which carries the die upto a height sufficient to clear the top of the feed-spout, and astraight portion of track carries the die over the feed-spout, while asharp decline k permits the die to drop down after it has cleared thespout to enter the mold-box, at which point the cam-track I commencesand the operation begins. The track K also acts as a support for theupper dies to prevent their dropping too farinto the mold-box, andthereby serves as a stop for said dies.

The operation of the parts so far described is as follows: The materialbeing fed into the feed-spout drops down by gravity and fills themold-boxes as they are successively presented beneath the open lower endof said spout. At this point the upper die of the filling-mold will beheld above the feed-spout and the lower die will be at the lowest pointof its movement, its bearing being upon the adjustable track-section. Asthe revolution of the platen continues, the mold-box which has beenfilled emerges from beneath the feed-spout and the upper die drops down,entering the mold-box'slightly and the compression begins. The lower diegradually rises under the influence of its cam-track, and the upper diebeing also gradually elevated, but preferably more slowly than the lowerone, the pressing is graduallyeffected, giving time for the expulsion ofair filling the interstices of the clay and also gradually elevating theforming brick while under pressure, and thus securing truer sidestherein than can be attained in brick-machines having a mold of suddenaction or in machines which eject the brick from the mold when not underpressure. When the top of the brick is raised flush with the top of theplaten, the sharp incline of the track K raises the upper die clear ofthe brick and the lower die continues its upward movement until thebottom of the brick is finally brought flush with the top of the platen.

To remove the brick from the platen without injury, I have provided theknock-off device shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, which consists of aseries of sweep-arms rotatably mounted upon a stud bearing a gearenmeshed with the gear-teeth on the edge of the platen. M representssaid sweep-arms, m their stud, and N the gear thereof. Each of saidsweeparms is preferably provided with pivoted blocks 0 0, which areadapted to engage, respectively, the end and side of the finished brick,and the revolution of the sweep-arms is so that these blocks engage thebrick at the moment that it has cleared the mold-box and by theirrotation operate to sweep the brick off the platen, preferably upon thetraveling belt P, which will be adapted to conduct the brick to one sideof the machine.

I have described my improvements as relating particularly to abriekmachine; but of course my invention is applicable to the pressingof blocks of any material-such as soap, artificial fuel, pulverized ore,and the like.

I do not claim in this application the particular configuration of thecam-tracks whereby the brick is formed while it is moved upwardly withinthe mold-boxes, said feature being the subject of claim in a pendingapplication filed by me in the United States Patent Office January 10,1890, Serial No. 336,485.

I claim 1. In a brick-machine having a stationary feed-box, thecombination,with a rotary platen having mold-boxes therein, ofreciprocating bed-dies, a circular cam-track upon which the bed-dieshave a bearing, upper dies having a sliding bearing in a rotatableframe, a cam-track upon which the upper dies have a bearing, and asecond cam-track upon which the upper dies also bear, said second trackhaving a raised portion adapted to lift said upper dies at one point oftheir revolution over said stationary feed-box, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a brick-machine having a stationary feed-box, the combination,witha rotary platen having mold-boxes therein, of a feed-spout whose lowerend delivers over the path of the mold-boxes, reciprocating bed-dies, acircular cam-track upon which the bed-dies have a bearing, upper dieshaving a sliding bearing in a rotatable frame, a cam-track upon whichthe upper dies have a bearing, and a second canrtrack upon which theupper dies also bear, said second track having a raised portion adaptedto lift said upper dies at one point of their revolution over saidstationary feed-box, substantially as described.

3. In a brick-machine having a rotary platen provided with mold-boxes,of reciprocating bed-dies having extended shanks, and a cam-track havingan adjustable section mounted upon screws toward either end thereof, andgearing for rotating said screws to adjust said section, whereby themovement of the bed-dies may be regulated, substantially as described.

4. The combination, in a brick-machine, of a rotary platen having aseries of mold-boxes therein, reciprocating bed-dies entering thebottoms of said mold-boxes, and a feed-spout having an opening ofgreater width than said mold-boxes and adapted to discharge materialpassed through said spout into said boxes, substantially as described.

5. The combination, in a brick-machine, of a rotary platen havingaseries of moldboxes therein, reciprocating bed-dies entering the bottomsof said mold-boxes, and a feed-spout having an opening of greater widththan said mold-boxes and adapted to discharge material passed throughsaid spout into said boxes, said feed-spout having a hingedWall-section, substantially as described.

6. In a briclemachine having a rotary platen provided with n10ldboxesand recipro eating dies adapted to discharge the brick from said boxes,in combination therewith a knock-off device comprising rotatable arms,having pivoted blocks thereon adapted to bear, respectively, upon theend and side of the finished brick, substantially as described.

ROBERT KNICKERBOCKER.

Witnesses:

T. D. BUTLER, FREDERICK O. GOODVVIN.

